Asian markets heading downwards

HONG KONG (AFP) – Asian markets slipped at the start of the new trading week, picking up where they left off after last week’s Fed-inspired rally ran out of steam.

After a burst of enthusiasm on the back of the US central bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold for a bit longer, equities had begun giving up some of their gains on Friday, moving back from 14-month highs in Asia.

The stay of execution for easy money served also to bolster the Japanese yen, knocking some of the stuffing out of Tokyo on Monday, while other major indices also headed downwards.

A stronger yen tends to make Japanese stocks less desirable.

Uneasiness over oil was also dampening enthusiasm, ahead of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this week.

“Oil spot prices will have a big influence on where equities markets are going to trade for the early part of the week,” said Angus Nicholson, a Melbourne-based analyst at IG Ltd.

“There are uncertainties over whether the OPEC members can reach an agreement,” he told Bloomberg News.

Two years of oversupply and OPEC’s failure to come to any kind of consensus on how to deal with it have left observers sceptical of any change in direction when players meet in Algeria on Wednesday.

Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 0.8 percent by the break, while Hong Kong’s major Hang Seng index had lost 0.7 percent by mid-morning.